Revelation
by Aurora-of-Aragon
Summary: The prison has fallen! Before Rick and Michonne are separated after the destruction of the prison, Rick reveals a secret to her that promises to rock her foundation. How will Michonne respond to Rick's confession? I wrote this at the request of some of my Richonne sorority sisters. ENJOY!
1. Chapter 1

The crimson stained holocaust raged on as the yellow-orange fireballs exploded all over the prison grounds. Cries rang out as a tank cut down anyone in its path. After Michonne freed herself, she sprung into action. For a quick second she replayed Hershel's brutal end in her mind. Bullets humming past her ears shook her back to reality. Her arms and body became a graceful brown storm whipping through the Governor's phalanx leaving a carpeting of shredded limbs. Every slice, every decapitation was for all of the people she had loved and lost.

_First Andre, then Andrea and now Hershel._

She imagined them giving her unchecked power as she let out a deep guttural cry from the deepest part of her. Michonne's blade whistled through the air. A man grabbed her locks from behind and slammed her to the ground. She thrust her katana into his head and used him as leverage to lift herself onto her feet. The gunfire, the tank advance, the explosions created almost a deafening sonic boom that robbed her of logical thought. She froze, not knowing what to do until a quiet hush sailed past her shoulder and spun her body around towards the prison. Michonne could see from clear across the prison courtyard that Rick was in imminent danger.

_It was win or die._

Rick could feel his life passing through his lungs. He simply had nothing left after the painstaken runs, the bitter conflicts, and endless deaths.

_And now the day would end with his own death. _

He kicked the ground violently and tried to tear the Governor's arms away from his neck. The day would end without him ever seeing his children again. Rick wanted to believe that Carl and Judith would be in good hands but even that could not comfort him in his final moments. Would any of his family be spared to care for his children? He hoped that they would forgive him one day for failing. Rick loved all them and he never had said it enough. Unexpectedly, love had ascended into his life again, yet it was a beautiful secret he would take to his grave. Regret was an ugly thing to pass this life with.

Phillip was delighted at seeing Rick's body convulse. The convulsions brought him great joy. He immersed himself in the blue pool of death that rushed over Rick's face. He was tired of the simple little fucker with his shitty morals and ideals polluting his world. The bastard thought that he was better than him, that somehow he was placed on this Earth to be the savior of all. He had lost it all because of him. Phillip inhaled deeply as he repeatedly slammed Rick's head into the ground. Fury enveloped him as he moaned both in triumph and then suddenly in dark agony.

Nothing pleased Michonne more than to see The Governor ripping at his chest as he tried to free her silver blade from his body. She smirked, retracting it slowly so he could feel every edge re-cutting his internal organs. Michonne immediately pushed her katana back into the holster and ran to Rick. She locked her arm with his and helped him walk. He was unsteady on his feet, almost pulling them both onto the ground. Michonne struggled to support his weight. Blood was dripping into his eyes from a head wound. Rick's eyes were rolling out of focus which suggested to her that he had sustained a very bad concussion. She had to bring one of the vehicles to Rick so they could gather Carl, Judith, and anyone else who she could get to. Relieved to see that Carl was running towards them, Michonne began to run for the vehicles. Before she could get far Rick grabbed her arm.

"You don't have to say anything, Rick. I will get the truck so we can get Judith and get out of here." Michonne said, still taking a visual survey of his injuries. She couldn't lose him, not when she had been feeling something awaken in her that she still refused to acknowledge. Rick's breathing was shallow and uneven. The raspy sound from him made Michonne's lungs burn. With all of his strength, Rick steadied himself as best as he could and pulled her close to him. He whispered into her ear, wincing through the pain caused by the contact with their bodies. Through his labored breathing, Michonne could barely make out what he said to her. Actually she was wondering if she had heard him correctly. She looked at him in astonishment, unable to reply to what Rick had just revealed to her.


	2. Chapter 2

Michonne roused violently in the abandoned car. She was no longer seeing Mike and Andre but oddly they both invaded her dreams the previous night. When she had met Andrea, the visions suddenly ceased. The nurturing Michonne received from her set her on the path of making her whole again. It was a narrow path. She could have easily fallen off and abandoned Andrea after she saved her from the walkers. When Andrea pleaded with her to leave her when she fell ill, Michonne could have fled.

_If only she could have saved Andrea again. _

Michonne sighed.

_If only…_

Michonne ran through scores of scenarios: If only Mike and Andre had lived. If only she had killed the Governor. If only she had saved Andrea. If only she and Hershel had stayed in the prison.

_If only._

Suddenly the gravity of her words collided with the present. "If only." would not help her live. In fact it would only stagnate her. She would always love Mike and Andre. Her little boy would always have her heart…until her last breath, but now he and his father couldn't love her in the way that she needed. She thought again to her chance meeting with Andrea and quickly reconciled that it wasn't chance. Andrea was a forerunner, a beautiful bridge that led her to her new family. She missed her family and wondered if they were still out there. When she ran for the truck to help Rick and Carl, she found that all of the vehicles had been damaged beyond repair by the gunfire. By the time she had made her way back to where she had left Rick and Carl, they had vanished. There was also no sign of Judith or anyone else.

Michonne swiftly moved back into survival mode. She took a quick survey of her surroundings and stepped outside of the car. Drawing her katana she summoned fury once again. She moved so swiftly it was as if she were detached from her body, watching her blade on its own shred her pet walkers and their accompanying horde. She ran for the tracks she had ignored earlier. In those last moments she chose life. She yearned to live but following the tracks meant that she also yearned to love. Michonne wished she could have pushed down that last revelation with the butt of her katana.

Rick sat up in the bed in the master bedroom. The past few days were filled with extremes. He had lost everything, including his daughter. Today Michonne found her way back to him.

"It's for you." He said to Carl like a giddy little school boy when he saw Michonne on the other side of the door. It soothed his aching world when he saw her and Carl swallow each up in a deep embrace. Afterwards things quickly got awkward. Rick and Michonne exchanged pleasantries but did not embrace. In fact they didn't touch at all. Rick saw the baffled look on Carl's face.

_As if things weren't already a giant mess. _

Michonne came into the room with a basin full of water. She sat it down on the nightstand beside a first aid kit she retrieved from the connecting bathroom. Ever since she had arrived she had said very little to him. Rick had also noticed she went out of her way to avoid eye contact. He let his mind wonder. They had all been through a lot. After losing Hershel and the prison that would be enough to make anyone withdraw however he knew that Michonne's silence was aimed directly at him.

_She blamed him. _

Rick looked out of a window, attempting to ignore the energy in the room. He thought about what he revealed to her before they were separated. He grew ashamed.

_He was such a weak man. _

"Get up and take your clothes off." Michonne commanded, still avoiding eye contact.

Startled, Rick cleared his throat. "I can do this myself."

Michonne tugged at Rick's battered shirt and pulled at the old bandages underneath. He let out a howl and snatched away from her.

"If this is any indication that 'I can do this myself' then that concussion is worse than I thought. We don't have any time for pride, Rick. Get up and take your clothes off so I can get started."

Rick gulped. He was set afire over what Michonne had just said to him. It was so hard to keep in control, in fact it was going to be his greatest feat yet. Rick rose from the bed and began to disrobe. Michonne turned her back although she cursed at herself for wanting to watch him take off his clothes. She spread a large towel on the bed before Rick sat back down. He immediately covered up the lower part of his body although the evidence was clear. The situation was extremely charged and Michonne felt her skin pulsate. Her hand shook as she peeled the old dressing from Rick's back and torso. She retrieved a sponge from the basin and squeezed out the excess water longer than she needed. Michonne fumbled with the sponge and dropped it into Rick's lap. She scooped it up brushing up against him. He jumped and inadvertently let out low sensual grunt. Michonne did her best to ignore what had happened and cleaned Rick's head wound. She ran her fingers through his curly hair checking for other wounds but also out of wild fascination. Michonne wrapped his dark locks around her fingers and slowly straightened out the curls from his scalp.

"I can't thank you enough for what you did for me back at the prison." Rick said to Michonne as she moved the sponge down to his face to clear away dried up blood. He gripped the comforter for dear life and squeezed the hell out of his eyes. Michonne's touch made him feel as if he were on rollercoaster being pulled to its zenith. He wanted nothing more than for her to take his hand so that they could leap off of that beautiful summit together.

"Well if you didn't save me the day I had the formula, we'd both be dead now anyway." Michonne said blankly, hiding her great concern over the purplish discoloration on one side of Rick's ribcage. She gingerly examined the area forcing Rick to explode into obscenities. His mouth ran foul equally from pain and the agonizing arousal besieging his body.

"I'm sorry." Michonne blankly responded again after a painful stretch of silence.

"You're sorry?" Rick questioned.

Michonne rang the sponge out again and wiped his torso. From his tone she knew immediately that Rick was alluding to his decision to give her up to the Governor although he never went through with the plan. He had apologized once and she knew he was sincere. Rick was one of the few men she ever knew who had selfless heart. He was so good that at times it became sickening.

_But that was why she loved-_

"Yes I am sorry for hurting you just now." Michonne blurted out disturbed by what she was about to admit to herself. At this point she was scrubbing Rick's chest so vigorously that she left red spots all over his skin.

"Damn it Michonne!"

"I'm sorry!"

Rick took the sponge from her hand and hurled it across the room. Finally she made eye contact with him. He captured her hands and intertwined his fingers with hers. The stunning contrast of her ebony skin breathing as one with his fair complexion was mesmerizing. Their glances flowed back and forth between their interlaced fingers and the parts of Rick's chest that Michonne had nursed with the sponge.

"I'm not in love with you, Rick."

Stunned, he let her hands go and lowered his head. Michonne felt like a creep. She thought she had the courage to cross the threshold into a life with Rick but what she felt for this man made her pause. Michonne convinced herself that she could best love Rick at a distance.

"I know that's not what you have wanted to hear ever since you told me that you were in love with me back at the prison. Rick I just think that you were so caught up in the moment after I saved you. It's understandable. You were about to die."

"Don't be so fucking patronizing!" Rick shot back with blue ice jetting from his eyes. He wanted to let Michonne have it but then he noticed a concerned Carl standing at the bedroom door.

"Christ Dad. I heard you shouting from downstairs. Is everything ok?"

"Yes, everything is alright." Michonne interjected as she leered at Rick. She grabbed a roll of medical tape from the nightstand and tossed it at Carl. "See that your father gets bandaged up."

Rick watched Michonne storm from the room. He could feel Carl's eyes burning through him.

"What did you do now, Dad?"

Rick sighed lightly. "What did I do? Probably the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life."

Carl smirked. "I guess some things never change."

Rick dipped his hand into the basin that Michonne used to wash him up and torpedoed water at Carl.


	3. Chapter 3

Michonne went into the bathroom and locked the door that led back to her bedroom. She quietly sauntered over to the door that led into Rick's room and secured the lock. Michonne exhaled and tied her hair up. Taking a shower was like liquid chocolate to her, a luxury she was going to savor and relish until the very last drop. Joy would have to be found in the simplest of things, she concluded if she were to remain in possession of her sanity. Michonne turned the knobs to the shower. She knew it was futile to turn the hot water knob. When she had prepared the basin to clean Rick's wounds, the water ran icy. Michonne was certain the hot water heater in the house was yet another casualty of the apocalypse.

Before she took off her clothes, Michonne rechecked the lock to Rick's door. _Why was she so paranoid? If she wasn't in love with him, then there was nothing to worry about, right?_

Michonne laughed off her thoughts and stepped into the shower. She gasped as soon as the freezing water bounced off of her body. Unsure of how long she would be able to stand the frigidness, Michonne grabbed some soap and worked up a lather. She closed her eyes and used the soap to give her body a good cleansing. Exhaling, she leaned against the wall of the shower and lathered up the soap again. Michonne began to massage her aching muscles with the lather as her fingers slid from the tenderness in her neck down to the chiseled muscles in her abs. As she reached to knead the mild pain in her lower back the muscles in her shoulders spasmed. Michonne grimaced and thought back to her days at the luxury spa with her friends.

_She could use one of those million dollar massages right about now._

It was so nice to have someone squash out her endless worries of clients, court cases, and the endless mounds of documents thrust upon her. Now she worried about eating…surviving, and there were no spas to press the misery out of her. Michonne turned and lowered her forehead on the wall while the water trickled down head and back. After a few seconds she had thought she had temporarily cleared her mind of her current .The water beating down in her ears reminded her of what Rick professed to her days ago.

_I love you, Michonne. _

The bursts of water in the shower unexpectedly roused her. Her thoughts raced with the quickening rhythm of her heart. She could have sworn Rick was in the shower behind her, uttering those words in her ear as he placed her hands up against the wall. The water, she began to imagine, felt like his fingers fanning along the small of her back. It didn't help that earlier she had caught glimpses of Rick's exposed body when she washed him with the sponge. They both knew that she had seen his budding arousal attempting to explode from underneath his covers. Michonne went as far as to estimate how large he was after she accidentally brushed against him when she dropped the sponge into his lap. She fanaticized Rick wrapping his arms around her waist before delicately easing himself inside of her.

"_I love you, Michonne. I…love…you." _She imagined him gasping through every kiss on her neck and every powerful thrust. Lathering up the soap a final time, a breathless Michonne slid her hands over her breasts and then towards her inner thighs. Her fantasy took off without her as she faced Rick and placed his face in her hands. She tried uttered the words that she knew he so wished to hear:

_I love…_

Michonne angrily slapped herself in the head and turned the water off. Cursing barely above a whisper she wrapped herself in a towel and unlocked Rick's door. She then unlocked the door to her room and closed it behind her. Michonne dried herself vigorously in a fit of anger. She put on an over-sized white t-shirt and slid into the large window sill next to her bed. She drew her legs into her body and closed her eyes. The window sill served as a confessional for Michonne to confess her sins not to God, but to Mike.

"I love you, Mike. I love you for giving me Andre. He was my light and I'll never forget him. I'll always wonder about what could have been and what kind of man Andre would have grown up to be. Andre helps me to keep pushing on in this world. Mike, I love you for the life you gave me and the good times we shared but I realized that even though I loved you, I wasn't _in_ love with you. Maybe I knew all along. I think it started when we went to Victoria and you took me whale watching. It was so beautiful…the snow capped mountains in the background, everyone laughing and smiling as the boat took off across the water. I loved seeing the happiness in your face. You didn't have a care in the world. I don't know if you remember but there was a very young German couple sitting in front of us. They were newlyweds and so much in love. There was no denying it. The entire time we were out on the water I was looking at them…the way that they looked at each other made my heart race. And then it hit me. I never looked at you in that same way. I came back to Atlanta feeling so sad. I tried to make myself be happy and pretend that nothing had changed but then I realized it wasn't fair to you. You were so good to me but I confused that with being in love with. Mike I was going to break up with you but then the outbreak came. You just deserved to have someone look at you the way that woman looked at her husband. I just wish you could have found that with someone else before you died."

Michonne wiped tears from her eyes. The guilt that she felt ripped at her stomach. She kept her eyes closed, hesitant to speak into existence the rest of her revelations. Quickly she realized that although she hadn't admitted them out loud, just by the act of thinking them, they were still given life.

"Mike, I met a man. He's so good to me but it's much more than that. I don't know. It's a connection that I can't explain. The way he looked at me today… it stirred something in me and I know it's the same thing that couple felt for each other back in Victoria. He's amazing. He's so kind and fearless at the same time. We can take on the world together and we have. Mike, I adore his son but please don't think that Carl is a replacement for Andre! No one will replace Andre, but I love Carl as if he were my own. I'm in love with his father and I just need you to forgive me. I love him, Mike. I know that it seems much too soon, but I love him."

Michonne kept her eyes shut. She felt freed by what she had just confessed. In fact she had felt so empowered that she dared herself to admit her revelation out loud again. She took a deep breath and braced herself.

"I'm in love with you, Rick Grimes."

Michonne sat silently and let her words flow around the room. She opened her eyes and looked into the mirror of a vanity set to her left. Instant terror ran through Michonne's veins as she saw Rick's reflection glaring back at her.


	4. Chapter 4

"Well,I assume that you heard everything." Michonne said to Rick through the mirror.

Rick noted the sardonic bite to her words and could only manage a nod. What he had just heard angered him.

"You were spying on me."

"And you lied to me, Michonne."

Silence followed as they defiantly stared at each other through the looking glass. Rick folded his arms across his bare chest. He had found some gray sweatpants from the wardrobe in his room. Michonne could tell that he had nothing on underneath them. She quickly looked away noting that the anger she had towards Rick for spying on her was fleeing. He may have listened in on her most intimate thoughts but what she did was worse. In the midst of it all she played with Rick's emotions to guard own.

"Are you going to say _anything_?"

"Carl is finally asleep. I sat with him for a while." Michonne blurted out in response to Rick, trying to avoid as long as possible the inevitable. Looking at him in the mirror made her edgy. She had never seen him look more beautiful. As equally as powerful was the fact that she knew Rick was unaware of his lure. He'd probably been totally ignorant of his physical attributes his entire life. Michonne checked off on her mental list yet another reason why she was so in love with him.

_Modesty._

"Yeah I know that he's asleep. I checked in on you guys earlier." Rick responded seeing that Michonne was preoccupied with her thoughts.

"So I don't get any privacy around here?" Michonne snapped, knowing that she was becoming irrational.

"Forgive me for wanting to see that two of the people I love most in this fucked up world are safe!" Rick immediately spat back, storming up to Michonne and finally reaching his boiling point with her and her antics. "I am so sick of your bullshit!"

On impulse Michonne yanked Rick by the arm and pulled him into the window sill with her. She placed her hands at the side of his face and tenderly brought his forehead to hers. She laughed.

Rick's first instinct was to pull away from Michonne after she laughed. He wondered what she found so amusing when he had felt so enraged. Instead her touch reminded him of why he was here in this moment with her.

"You're so damn funny when you call yourself getting angry, Rick." Michonne shared through another cackle and wrapping her arms around him.

"So I'm comic relief now?"Rick asked so stoically that Michonne continued to giggle. She pulled away from him and repositioned herself in the sill. Rick leaned back and took her in with his dreamy eyes. His world was filled with so much uncertainty but this goddess sitting right in front of him was his powerful constant. Sure there were times when Michonne made him completely nuts and strangely enough he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Say something Rick." Michonne pleaded, wondering if she had finally pushed him too far.

"Don't you have something to say to me?" Rick pushed back.

Michonne panicked. Inevitability had finally arrived. Right now there would be no more jokes or trivial conversation, just real talk. She slid next to Rick and they took each other into a loving embrace. He stroked the small of her back, hoping against all hope that he could provide safety for Michonne to love him as much as he loved her.

"Rick it's just too soon. I don't even understand how it happened but I feel it. I'm in love with you."

Rick could only kiss her. Michonne was no damsel. He was in awe at how strong of a force this woman was. Saving each other had become routine. She was more than capable of protecting herself but tonight he wanted to be her knight and champion. He was unsure of what the future would bring or even if they had a future. What mattered most was that they still had each other. Together, he was certain that they could conquer anything.


End file.
